On Wednesday morning, Border Patrol agents encountered two Guatemalan brothers, ages 2 and 6, who had crossed into the United States without family members, their shirts had the names and phone numbers of their contacts in the United States.
The boys were part of a group of 18 immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala and Cuba who met the agents near La Gruola in Texas’ southernmost Rio Grande Valley region.
“Many unaccompanied children encountered by Border Patrol are too young to provide the names or phone numbers of family members,” the agency said. Say in a press release.
A pair of boys from Guatemala arrive alone at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 21, 2022
(Border Patrol)
Finding adequate contact details for these unaccompanied migrants means “agents must rely on information written on clothing or handwritten notes found on their property, adults in groups and/or consulates in their home countries,” Border Patrol continued.
Border Patrol encountered about 140,000 unaccompanied minors entering the United States this year, according to government statistics.
When federal officials encounter unaccompanied children, they are detained by the government until a family contact in the U.S. can be found, or transportation can be arranged to return to the immigrant’s home country.
The treatment of immigrant children is back in the spotlight after governors in Texas and Florida sent buses and planes full of immigrants to liberal jurisdictions as a political stunt this year.
At least a dozen children, including some newborns, have been put on such transport in recent weeks, according to a independent analyze.
Meanwhile, single adults entering the U.S. are often kicked out of the country before they are granted legally protected asylum rights under the controversial Trump-era Section 42 program.
The policy is reportedly a putative pandemic measure concocted by Stephen Miller, the Trump administration’s chief immigration adversary Protest against the CDCallowing immigration officials to deny entry to asylum seekers on Covid grounds.
According to Pew analysis, the Biden administration has carried out the vast majority of Title 42 about 2.2m Evictions that have occurred since the policy went into effect.
Fired this year under Biden administration’s health rules Renew in August Despite previous plans to abandon it, it appears to be on track to surpass the 1.07 million performed in 2021, According to border patrol statistics.
